Five-In-Five For All

For as much as I support U SPORTS hockey, it's hard to argue that the machine south of the border known as the NCAA isn't a system that churns out all sorts of talent. One can make a case that the University of Michigan, North Dakota, Boston College, and Boston University, and the University of Minnesota have been factories for hockey talent for years with the number of players they sent to the NHL, and a vast number of these players have been top picks in the NHL draft while playing long NHL careers. However, a change to the NCAA's eligibility setup may now change how players view NCAA offers to play college hockey.

The new eligibility rules would perceivably change how players treat college hockey opportunities. The newly-proposed rule reads,

"Permit student-athletes up to five years of eligibility beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school, whichever happens earlier."

I can tell you that I graduated high school when I was 17 and started university the following September at the same age. Under the new rules, this would mean that I would have started an NCAA hockey career at 18 and it would have ended at age 23 regardless red shirt seasons or any season where I was injured. The exceptions to the five-year eligibility are few and far between under the new setup.

If I had chosen to go to junior hockey and play there, I would need to decide before turning 19 whether or not I was joining an NCAA program. If I play junior hockey until I was 20, I'd lose one year of eligibility since the new rules state that eligibility starts at age 19. Clearly, this is going to force a lot of decisions for both players and programs when it comes to recruiting and planning rosters for both junior hockey and NCAA teams. Nothing can ever be easy, right?

If there is a benefit to the start of eligibility, it would allow high school graduates a chance to take that gap year between high school and university. Many universities have looked at the benefits and drawbacks of the gap year, and there's even an association that promotes using the gap year. Personal anecdotes, government sites, and even Harvard University suggest taking the gap year for a number of reasons. This might be the best part of the new eligibility rule.

Where this rule presents a major problem for NCAA programs is transfers and professional players. Aidan de la Gorgendiere would have had to make a decision on NCAA hockey in 2020 after his second season with the WHL's Saskatoon Blades after 110 WHL games and 33 points. I'm not certain that many NCAA teams would have been seeking de la Gorgendiere, and the five-year length of time for his eligibility means his 2025-26 season with the University of Nebraska-Omaha may not have happened. Clearly, that wouldn't be good.

For current students, the good news is that the new eligibility rules will not apply to them. The bad news is that students coming into university programs will see it applied to them. What this means is that even if a player shows up and is red-shirted all season long, one season of eligibility will be used. The new rules are strict about five years of eligibility in a five-year period, so it doesn't matter if a player is good enough for a roster spot because the clock is running.

The flip side is that coaches don't have to worry about burning a year of eligibility by dressing a player for one game, so younger players may get a shot if teams struggle. If there are kids who stand out in practice, they can be dressed for games at any time. Coaches are no longer planning for the future when it comes to recruiting players.

There are still a pile of questions that need to be answered when it comes to certain situations for hockey eligibility, but this new eligibility rule instituted by the NCAA will affect all sports. With exceptions only being made for pregnancies, military service, and religious missions, it seems the NCAA is set on ensuring that eligibility for any sport ends at the age of 24 for all athletes in all sports.

It will be a new landscape in American university sports when this five-in-five rule is finalized. Whether it changes the sports being played at the NCAA level is unknown at the moment, but time will answer that question as we find out how NCAA men's and women's hockey programs works under the new eligibility rules.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Half As Many Entrants

The final game of the opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs was concluded tonight as the Montreal Canadiens held on for a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, eliminating the Lightning as the eighth and final team gone from the first round. Of course, that means we'll have exit interviews on The Hockey Show as five more people join Ethan (Ottawa), Harv (Los Angeles), and Billy (Pittsburgh) back on the mainland after spending two weeks or less on Survivor: NHL Playoffs island! The remaining eight teams push forward!

Michaela is already on her way after Carolina took a 1-0 lead over Philadelphia, so Derek's going to need the Flyers to rally after being blanked 3-0 in the opener. Minnesota and Colorado will renew hostilities tonight as Dave and Tyler look to grab a lead in that series, Anaheim and Vegas will kick off their battle tomorrow with Colin and Matt looking for and edge, and Travis and Fiona will have to wait until May 6 before the Montreal-Buffalo series gets underway.

For those worried about these weird starts to series, Carolina and Philadelphia could be done by May 9 if Carolina were to sweep while Buffalo and Montreal will have only played two games. The NHL really needs to get this scheduling under control because there's no way any team should have played their first game of the second round when the first round hasn't ended. That's just ridiculous, but that's the NHL.

For those wondering about the challenge prizes, here's the recap:

• First shutout recorded in the playoffs. - Michaela
• First hat trick recorded in the playoffs. - Travis
• First goaltender point recorded in the playoffs.
• First team eliminated from the playoffs. - Ethan
• First to advance from the second round to the third round.
• First team to score seven goals in one game. - Colin
• First upset of the playoffs. - Derek

I'm waiting on one person to choose a prize before the final prize of the first round can be handed out, but the three challenges that remain can still be won by any of the eight teams still alive. With four of the five winners still alive, could we see someone win multiple prizes? We've seen it before, so it could very well happen!

This week's episode of The Hockey Show will see Jared (Dallas), Elliot (Edmonton), Josh (Utah), Tom (Pittsburgh), and Barry (Tampa Bay) give their thoughts on how their teams failed them in the playoffs as these five competitors will deliver their exit interviews. Those should be fun as a few of the heavyweights who were thought to have a chance will now be working on their golf games until September.

Officially, Round Two is underway. Eight teams will be reduced to four when the dust settles, and we'll have four more exit interviews. Who will still be in contention at that point on Survivor: NHL Playoffs?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

How Dumb Are They?

Hockey Canada dropped a bombshell of an announcement yesterday where they informed the world that Team Canada would not play at the 2026 Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. This has to be one of the most idiotic things that Hockey Canada has done since their scandals, and it may force me to stop supporting Hockey Canada altogether. People will point to the World Junior Championship as the "Christmas tournament", but that tournament doesn't get interesing until New Year's Eve. That's where the Spengler Cup filled the high-level hockey gap because the Spengler Cup is always a sprint for five days at the end of December.

With Canada's contract coming to an end, host HC Davos wanted to negotiate a new deal to keep Canada in the tournament. Davos had a few demands as this contract negotiation began with the most pressing demand being that Canada must bring rosters that have been far more competitive than what has been seen since their last win in 2019. I'm not saying that Canada couldn't make that happen, but last year's roster was hardly what one would classify as a "Canadian all-star team". Last season, Canada was out of the tournament after dropping two-straight games where they scored two goals total.

Davos is always wanting the best teams in Europe there, and Canada should be made to bring its best as well. I get there are players who may not want to play in the Spengler Cup due to load management, but it's not like Canada has a shortage of players or teams it could send. Jason and I made the case on The Hockey Show that the Canadian World Junior team plays against a U SPORTS all-star team prior to jumping into the IIHF tournament, so why can't Canada send that U SPORTS team as its Spengler Cup team as "Team Canada"?

The key, however, was that this tournament was supposed to reward Canadians playing in Europe with a chance to wear the maple leaf in a major tournament. Michael Joly was the top-scoring Canadian in the Swiss league last season - did not suit up for Canada. Jonathan Ang was the top-scoring Canadian in the Swedish league - did not suit up for Canada. David Quenneville was two points back of Ang in the SHL - did not suit up. Taro Hirose, Gregor MacLeod, Nicolas Mattinen, and Alex Breton finished sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-overall in German league scoring - did not play. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Canada first played in the Spengler Cup in 1984, and it holds 16 titles to its name. It owns the second-most championships, one back of HC Davos, and Canada had been the only North American team at the tournament annually since 1990. While the Rochester Americans made two appearances, they were not annual appearances. With Hockey Canada's announcement today, that torch has been passed to the US Collegiate Selects who finished with the silver medal last year.

I'm not saying someone should be fired, but that should be an option considering this outcome. If players were turning down Hockey Canada before, removing the option to represent the country altogether won't put Hockey Canada in a good light for any player who feels that Hockey Canada has forgotten about them. And let's be honest: players in Europe are rarely celebrated by Hockey Canada.

We've seen Hockey Canada drop the ball on a number of things, but not being able to come to an agreement on a new contract to continue their Spengler Cup involvement might be one of the dumbest things they have done. I get that they can negotiate for a 2027 reappearance, but it's not like the exipry of this contract came out of nowhere. Someone knew about it, and someone blew it.

If you read this far into this article only to think, "No one watches that tournament anyway, Teebz," this is where you simply shrug your shoulders and move on. I don't need to hear comments about "no one cares" or "World Juniors are better". The Spengler Cup is an incredible tournament that I enjoy watching, and it bothers me that Hockey Canada seems so cavalier about this decision. This didn't have to happen, yet Hockey Canada let it happen. How dumb are they?

My holiday hockey-viewing schedule just opened up a lot more without the Spengler Cup. I hope TSN still broadcasts the games because it's a great tournament, but it will be weird not cheering for Canada. I guess I'll have to throw my support behind the US Collegiate Selects until Canada gets its act together regarding the Spengler Cup.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Party Like It's 2007

It's taken a long, long time, but the Buffalo Sabres are rewarding their fans with an extended playoff run thanks to their win tonight in Game Six against the Boston Bruins, eliminating the Bruins from the playoffs. The Sabres were definitely the favoured team coming into the series, but the Bruins gave them trouble at times that Lindy Ruff and his coaching staff will need to address. What matters most tonight, though, is that the Buffalo Sabres will play in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2007!

You may be wondering who Buffalo defeated in 2007 to get to the second round, and I can tell you that, as the top-ranked team in the Eastern Conference, they defeated the eighth-seeded New York Islanders in five games. The Islanders won Game Two by a 3-2 score, but the Sabres took the other four by 4-1, 3-2, 4-2. and 4-3 scores. The Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game Five before the Islanders looked to rally in the third period. A Maxim Afinogenov goal at 6:38 of the third period proved to be the series-clinching goal.

I had joked about all the things that hadn't happened since the last time the Sabres clinched a playoff spot, but the Sabres erased 19 years of futility with their 4-1 win tonight. They will wait to see who they play after Tampa Bay won tonight to force a Game Seven against Montreal. Both teams would present another tough challenge.

Buffalo and Tampa Bay have never met in the playoffs, but Buffalo held a 3-0-1 record against the Lightning this season. Buffalo was 2-2-0 against Montreal in the regular season and is 17-18 all-time against Montreal in the playoffs with Buffalo sweeping Montreal in 1998 in their most recent meeting. In short, don't put a lot of value in playoff records. Personally, I think Buffalo would prefer Tampa Bay as the Sabres like to use their speed and skill to overwhelm slower teams, but the Lightning know how to win in the playoffs based on history.

This Sabres team, however, is also different than what has been seen over the last 19 years. Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson lead the way with seven points while Tuch has four goals. Peyton Krebs, Bowen Byram, Rasmus Dahlin, and Owen Power are right behind Tuch and Thompson, and goaltender Alex Lyon has elevated his game as well.

What should scare both Montreal and Tampa Bay is that the four of the six players listed above have scored all of their points at even-strength. Thompson has six of seven points at five-on-five and Dahlin has three points at even-strength as Buffalo's power-play efficiency is thw worst in the playoff so far. In short, the Sabres have some work to do in practice, but they're excelling at five-on-five play.

Buffalo is also finding ways to get to the net as they are third in shots per game at 31.7 per contest. They held Boston to just 25.2 shots per game, so they're getting shots, they have possession a lot of the time, and their +8 in goal differential is tied with the Minnesota Wild as the best in the playoffs so far. All signs seem to point to Buffalo holding an edge no matter whether they play Montreal or Tampa Bay.

Tonight, however, Buffalo can celebrate. Not only did they make the playoffs for the first time in eleven years, but they rewarded their faithful with a series win for the first time in 19 years. If they can make it through another round, they'll do what they haven't done since 2007 as well in appearing in the conference final.

All eyes should be on the prize, though, as Buffalo prepares for Montreal or Tampa Bay. One game at a time. Enjoy every moment.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 710

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, takes over another time slot tonight as the show begins at 5pm CT rather than our usual 5:30pm! We're going right through to 6:30, so it's 90 minutes of hockey chatter and Pledge-O-Rama chatter as we attempt to help UMFM hit the goal of $34,000 raised! it's a big show for both the station and for our hosts based on the topics they'll discuss tonight, so make sure you're ready for 90 minutes of fun tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:00pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason have three exit interviews they'll conduct as Ethan (Ottawa), Billy (Pittsburgh), and Harv (Los Angeles) will head back to the mainland from Survivor: NHL Playoffs island. Along with those interviews, our hosts will discuss the need for the NHL to figure out what a good goal is, Brady Tkachuk's problems in Ottawa, the Manitoba Moose getting set for the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Fort Wayne Komets and the Indy Fuel, the PWHL's playoff series, rule changes in the NCAA, the EIHL's Manchester Storm being homeless for a few days, and we'll go over all the information you need when it comes to donating to UMFM's Pledge-O-Rama! We'll give some stuff away, guests will drop in, we'll chat some hockey, and we'll raise some money tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:00pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will talk making donations, capital improvements, better reviews, running one's mouth, playoff series, rule changes, arena changes, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: April 30, 2026: Episode 710

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

We Can Use Your Support!

I have always felt that my blog is a place for my thoughts about hockey and random other things. I never wanted it to cost anything, I wasn't going to make anyone subscribe, and I certainly didn't feel like I had "premium content" that had to be behind a paywall. Even the extensions of this blog - the grassroots hockey coverage and the radio show - are all done without any demand for subscription fees because it wouldn't feel right asking anyone to pay for our goofy content.

I do believe deeply in the work that UMFM does as a campus and community radio station. Part of our CRTC license mandate is that we need to cover campus and community events which is why The Hockey Show is quick to volunteer when it comes to covering great community hockey events such as the Female World Sport School Challenge and the sledge hockey games we've had the honour of calling. In saying that, this will be the only time we ever ask for help.

UMFM's annual pledge drive known as Pledge-O-Rama started last Friday, and you may have heard Jason and I talking about it on The Hockey Show last week. Pledge-O-Rama is where UMFM asks its listeners for a little bit of cash in order to fund major projects, capital improvements, and infrastructure upgrades through donations to the station. All donations are tax deductible if one chooses a tax receipt or UMFM merchandise can be acquired for a donation. All donations, however, go into the major project account for UMFM's improvements. No donation is used for day-to-day operations.

Some of the improvements that UMFM listeners have helped bring to life include a new radio tower erected in downtown Winnipeg that has allowed us to expand our broadcast reach beyond Winnipeg's outer reaches, funds to purchase our mobile broadcast units that have been used a number of times by Jason and I, and upgrades to the technology in our server room that saw the quality of the UMFM online radio stream and the individual show recordings improve greatly. Needless to say, we are grateful for our amazing listeners!

So how much is UMFM seeking in this pledge drive?

It may sound like a lot, but the station is aiming to raise $34,000 before Friday at 8pm. That may sound like a lot, but the station has already raised over $22,300 over the first four days! That's an incredible total already, so thank you to everyone who has donated! If you're looking to make a donation and join the UMFM community, the online pledge form can be found here or you can give us a call at 204-474-6610 and we'll fill out the donation form for you!

What improvements are you planning with these funds?

As stated, Pledge-O-Rama funds will go into making UMFM even better, and this year's projects are pretty cool when it comes to UMFM's dedication to the University of Manitoba campus and the communities in and around Winnipeg and southern Manitoba. The funds raised during Pledge-O-Rama this year will be used for:

• A UMFM news department! UMFM is creating a dedicated news department that brings local, campus, and community-focused reporting to the UMFM airwaves. With local news coverage shrinking everyday, independent stations like UMFM are uniquely positioned to fill that gap. We aim to do that.
• DJ and Live Production training! UMFM is developing new training opportunities for anyone who wants to learn how to DJ or produce content — students, neighbours, friends, and anyone interested in radio or podcasting - and UMFM is expanding our live studio recording program so local and emerging artists have a professional space to record, perform, and share their work while learning the radio craft.
• A new memorial archive! Over the years, UMFM has lost hosts and contributors who helped shape the station into what it is today. We want to honour them properly by building a dedicated section of our website to pay tribute to those friends we've lost. They matter to us and to our listeners!
• A secured content hub for campus partners! This new website space will house content produced through a new joint project for collaborative work that reflects the connection between UMFM and the University of Manitoba.

Clearly, these projects would eat up a lot of the station's annual budget without the Pledge-O-Rama funds, so we are grateful, we are humbled, and we are appreciative of any and all support that one can give. I'll even add that if you're unable to donate any money, we're just as appreciative of people who call to tell us how much they enjoy the shows and hosts found on UMFM. That boost to the UMFM ego never hurts, and it's awesome to hear that we're doing well!

If you have the means, please donate what you can afford. A nickel makes a world of difference when it comes to these projects, and we'll thank you just the same as if you donated $1000. Again, I would never ask for any money for my own personal gain, so this will be the only time I'll ask for you to give anything other than your time when it comes to reading HBIC. I am more than grateful for anyone who stops here, and UMFM would love to earn your listenership!

As a special programming note, The Hockey Show will be on the air at 5pm CT tomorrow for 90 minutes as we wrestled away the half-hour before our show from the syndicated French music show. Jason and I will be going through the first exit interviews among the various fun we have planned, and we may even have a few show incentives you'll want win by making a donation! It could be worth your effort!

I'll have more details on The Hockey Show preview tomorrow, but UMFM's goal of $34,000 is entirely reachable thanks to listeners like you. If you've made your donation, thank you so much for supporting great radio. If you haven't or are planning to, please do so by clicking the link or calling us at 204-474-6610! Thank you for your support!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: Fabric Of The Game

Being that I am a hockey fan, I have a bit of a hockey jersey collection that features teams from a number of leagues. Most are customized with names and numbers on the back, but some are not as I have yet to make a commitment on those jerseys. In saying that, though, there's a pile of history and market research that goes into the logos and colours that a lot of people sweep aside because "it looks cool". Today, we dive into the history a little more as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Fabric of the Game written by Chris Creamer and Todd Radom and published by Sports Publishing. Chris and Todd are big players in the world of sports logos and designs, so getting their takes on 32 NHL teams was something I had to read!

From his bio on the Sports Publishing website, "Chris Creamer is a writer, historian, and world-renowned expert on sports logos and uniforms based in the Toronto area. His passion for logos resulted in the creation of SportsLogos.Net, an ongoing 20+ year project dedicated to the history of team logos and uniforms. He has worked closely with the National Hockey League acting as a historical consultant for their centennial season celebration, written for NHL.com, the Buffalo News, and has been featured or quoted in several publications including The Hockey News, Washington Post, Toronto Star, and Sporting News."

Also from his bio on the Sports Publishing website, "Todd Radom is a graphic designer, sports branding expert, and writer. His work includes the official logos for Super Bowl XXXVIII, the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, the graphic identities of multiple Major League Baseball teams — including the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels — and league and team identity and branding for the BIG3 basketball league. He has provided commentary about sports logos and branding for ESPN, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. In addition, he has been profiled or quoted in numerous publications including the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, and Sporting News. Radom is the author of Winning Ugly: A Visual History of Baseball's Most Unique Uniforms." Radom also contributed to Paul Lukas' Uni-Watch.

Being that I like jerseys and history, Fabric of the Game seemed like a perfect book for me as those two subjects intersected thanks to the knowledge possessed by authors Creamer and Radom. They delivered in a big way with good chunks of history added for each team, some excellent photographs depicting the logos and jerseys for each team, and other interesting tidbits of information that hockey historians will love. In short, Fabric of the Game delivers nicely on its subtitle of "The Stories Behind the NHL's Names, Logos, and Uniforms".

If there is a quibble, the history-loving side of me wanted more. I know that may not have been possible in order to prevent Fabric of the Game from turning into a set of encyclopedias, but there were small snippets that needed deeper analyses for some of the teams. The authors make reference to Seattle nearly being the landing spot for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their chapter on the Kraken, but that's not explored in any way. HBIC went down that path, but I was hoping for more interesting facts about this topic and others in the book.

Don't let that discourage you from reading Fabric of the Game, though. There are so many good pieces of information contained between the covers that it's worth the read, and the photographs of older NHL jerseys may have you asking why some teams changed designs at all. One of the fun facts that Creamer and Radom included in the book about each team are the names they almost chose, and the Columbus Blue Jackets almost had another name. They write,

"A Name the Team Contest, sponsored by the Central Ohio-based restaurant chain Wendy's, launched in July 1997, with more than ninety Columbus-area restaurants distributing entry blanks. Dave Thomas, the chain's ubiquitous founder and pitchman, watched 'Frostys' according to a Wendy's spokes-person, a joking tribute to their signature frozen dessert."

How funny would that have been has the Blue Jackets debuted as the Columbus Frostys? All jokes aside, the two names that came back from the NHL that were approved were Blue Jackets and Justice, and we know which option the franchise chose. Facts like this are littered throughout the book about team names, logos, and jersey design, making Fabric of the Game a great addition to a hockey fan's library.

Overall, Fabric of the Game has enough information and images on its 280 pages to satiate hockey jersey fans, hockey history fans, and hockey jersey history fans. Creamer and Radom don't go into 100 years of history for the Original Six teams, but they give you enough to understand how the team name was chosen, the designs worn and the history behind them, and how the logos came to be. Again, it's not an encyclopedic look at the teams, but it's a fantastic resource for hockey fans to have at their fingertips. Because of the history, photographs, and information on its pages, Fabric of the Game absolutely is deserving of the the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Fabric of the Game was first printed in November 2020, so you should be able to find copies at libraries and local bookstores. Online retailers also have the book if you're seeking a copy. Everything contained within the book is easy to read without any concerns for parents of younger hockey fans if they were thinking about getting this book for a younger reader. Parents may end up with lots of questions about some of the older hockey topics, but Fabric of the Game is recommended reading for all hockey fans of all ages!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Call On The Ice Stands

With the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks battling into overtime last night, we saw the overtime game-winning goal scored by Anaheim called into question for a couple of reasons. Having watched the video over and over, I am convinced the NHL got the call right despite what Oilers fans and opinionated columnists think, but there seems to be a false consensus reached by those fans and columnists that the goal shouldn't be counted because Jarry's skate partially covered the puck. The problem with that reason is it's clearly wrong to the naked eye.

As shown in the image above, Oilers supporters aren't wrong in that Jarry's skate blade was covering the top of the puck. Because his skate covered both the goal line and the top of the puck, there was some question as to whether the puck fully crossed the line as the NHL requires "definitive proof" that a good goal had been scored.

Adding fuel to the fire was that none of the on-ice officials were in a position to see the goal when it was scored. They would confer after awarding Anaheim the goal, and I assume they came to an agreement there was no reason not to award the goal. Again, the image below shows where each official was standing when the goal was scored.

As we know, every goal scored in overtime gets reviewed, but this one needed to be called in by the on-ice officials. The Situation Room in Toronto would need "conclusive evidence" that the puck did not cross the line if they were to overturn the goal. This is from where all the controversy stems because the Situation Room ruled that the goal was good, the call on the ice would stand, and Anaheim would skate off with a 4-3 overtime victory in their pocket. All good, right?

Well, debate raged into the night on the Sportsnet broadcast, journalists and bloggers were already picking sides with their keyboards, and fans from both teams were already forming opinions on the goal, the NHL's handling of the goal, and any other conspiracies that were being imagined. However, it's clearly visible that the NHL got this call right despite the concerns because the puck's physical traits don't change throughout the entire game.

All hockey pucks used by the NHL are three inches in diameter. They are circles without any deformations that make them oblong or egg-shaped nor do they have any random protrusions that extend outside of their circumference. You can argue all you want about Jarry's skate obstructing the puck and goal line, but it seems pretty clear from the image to the right that the puck did cross the line entirely. Unless the puck developed some incredible irregularity after hitting Darnell Nurse's skate before sliding under Tristan Jarry, common sense and visual proof says that the NHL's Situation Room made the right call by upholding the "good goal" call made by the officials on the ice.

This argument that there isn't definitive proof that the puck crossed the line is the new "skate in the crease" controversy. It's very clear that the puck is across the line despite Jarry's skate obstructing the top of the puck, and most kindergarten students would tell you the puck crossed the line. If anyone wants to believe otherwise, that's baggage one will have to carry on one's own because Anaheim scored in overtime to win the game based on the visual evidence shown.

Of course, the NHL could simply pull its head out of the sand and start looking around when it comes to solving these kinds of problems. The Swiss National League solved this issue a while ago when they introduced a second, smaller line inside the net that's exactly the diameter of one regulation-sized puck away from the goal line. If any puck touches the second line, there is no controversy because it has to be a goal based on simple math and geometry. This two-line system has never failed in Switzerland when it comes to reviewing goals because the premise is simple: did the puck touch the second line at any point? If the answer is yes, the goal is awarded.

People will double-down on the idea that humans are falliable when it comes to judging whether a puck touched a line, but the system works. Reviews are quick and easy because it's a simple question to answer: did the puck touch the second line? If you want to blame human eyesight for a wrong call at that point, we might as well just stop playing the games and simulate them all through EA Sports' NHL video games. Athletes are people, officials are people, and people make mistakes. The goal here is to limit the number of mistakes by giving officials clear ways to determine if a goal is scored or not.

Whatever your feelings are towards the disputed goal, the fact remains that Anaheim leads 3-1 in their series over Edmonton with three chances to close out the series. You can say this goal changed the dynamics of the series which is debatable, but there are bigger problems that the Oilers need to address if they're going to make a third-straight Stanley Cup Final. One goal awarded correctly is not going to be the sole reason they're golfing earlier this year.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Moose Move On

It's funny how one can discover how much one likes something after not doing it for a while. I used to write weekly recaps on Wednesdays here on HBIC called "Antler Banter" about the Manitoba Moose that looked at all things happening around the team. This was before the Winnipeg Jets arrived in town, and I was one of the few people who covered the team without being affiliated or having a press pass. Watching the Moose host Milwaukee this week has rekindled that interest in the AHL squad, so it was nice to see the Manitoba Moose grit out a win in Game Three today to keep their playoff run going.

Admittedly, Jets fans should be filling Canada Life Centre to cheer on the Moose as these are the players that the Jets should be promoting. Some will argue that these players aren't entirely ready for NHL ice time, and that may be the case for some players. What we saw in this series, though, is that a pile of these players could be serviceable, effective NHL players if they are given the time and space to grow into those roster spots. No one is Macklin Celebrini, but there are a lot of guys who could bring skills and talents that the Jets need.

David Gustafsson should have been playing with the Jets all season, but he worked his tail off with the Moose. In doing so, he may have been the best 200-foot player on either team in this AHL series. Gustafsson won't wow anyone with flashy plays or thunderous hits, but he'll give you a consistent and reliable effort every time he goes over the boards. He scored the biggest goal this season for the Moose in Game Two, and he added two helpers in the Game Three 2-1 win.

In all three games, he was excellent on the defensive side of the puck which makes me wonder why he wasn't skating in Jonathan Toews' roster spot this season. He wins face-offs, he checks well, he doesn't cheat up the ice, and he's a leader on this Moose team through his play. He's not going to be the vocal leader in the room, but Gustafsson sees the game well and understands what makes his successful. Those are the players the Jets needed this season.

Of course, I could heap praise on Gustafsson and a number of his teammates throughout this article after how they played, but beating Milwaukee only opens the door to a much more difficult challenge in the Grand Rapids Griffins who the Jets will host next Saturday and Sunday in Games One and Two. The Griffins went 51-16-5 this season after starting the season 24-1-1, they tied a franchise-record 15-game winning streak, and they set a new AHL record with a 17-game road points streak. Yeah, the Grand Rapids Griffins are pretty good.

Not only are they good, but they're deep too. They had nine players with 30-or-more points. They had five players with 20-or-more goals. Goaltenders Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava sported a combined 43-14-4 record, a 2.26 GAA, and a .923 save percentage. Their power-play was only 15th-overall at 18.7% so there is room for improvement, but they had the AHL's best penalty-killing efficiency at 86.0% while scoring ten shorthanded goals. Yeah, they're good.

For as good as Gustafsson and his cohorts were, this Griffins team is a completely different challenge for the Moose than what the Admirals were. The Griffins won three-straight games over Manitoba in October by a combined 13-4 scores. The teams split the two games played here in January before Manitoba took an overtime win in Grand Rapids in Feburary. Grand Rapids bombed Manitoba in Winnipeg in two games at the start of April by 6-3 and 7-2 scores, so Manitoba's 2-6-0 record against Grand Rapids doesn't bode well.

However, these teams are required to play the games, and that's where Manitoba has to push the pace on Grand Rapids. They can't get into a track meet with Grand Rapids as the Griffins don't have an issue scoring; rather, the Moose will want to keep a controlled tempo where they forecheck without giving up too much and are quick to backcheck when the Griffins push the puck down the ice. Both Thomas Milic and Domenic DiVincentiis have proven they can win big games, and they'll need big saves to keep the Griffins at bay.

The Moose have every right to celebrate tonight after a hard-fought win against a very good opponent in the Milwaukee Admirals, but Monday will see the Moose back at work as they begin preparing for the top team in the Western Conference. Manitoba may have finished 29 points back of Grand Rapids in the regular season, but eliminating them from the Calder Cup Playoffs takes three wins in five games.

These two former IHL foes should put on a heckuva show when the series opens in Winnipeg on Saturday. All I'll add is "Go Moose Go!"

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Swept You Like A Hurricane

It was pretty clear from Game One last Saturday that these Carolina Hurricanes were not going to be denied. They may still lose in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Ottawa Senators were not going to be the team to end the Hurricanes' dream of a Stanley Cup parade this season. Despite the heroics shown by goaltender Linus Ullmark, the depth of the Hurricanes showed in each game as they got contributions up and down the lineup that the Senators simply could not match. Mix in an ineffective power-play, invisible top-line players, and a Carolina team that kept coming at the Senators in waves, and the four-game playoff appearance was all that was weakly written by the Ottawa Senators this season.

The Hurricanes started this series by shutting out the Senators, and that should have been seen as an omen for what was to come because the Hurricanes never trailed at any point in this series. Had the Senators won the double-overtime contest in Game Two, we might be talking about a different series with some doubt creeping into the Hurricanes' minds, but that never happened thanks to Jordan Martinook. Carolina led for 121:22 of the 213:53 of total time played in this series, and that's the telling statistic of this series.

Having the Senators score once on their 21 power-play opportunities should mean that the coaching staff will need to answer a lot of questions when it came to preparation and execution. That one goal was scored today by Drake Batherson, and it has been proven time and again that teams that win the special teams battles often win the games. In today's game alone, the Senators had three 5-on-3 opportunities and scored on none of them which, again, magnifies the importance of special teams. Ottawa now knows that well.

Make no mistake that the Hurricanes had to earn this series sweep, though. The line of Logan Stankovan, Taylor Hall, and Jackson Blake ran roughshod over the Senators in these four games, combining for seven goals and 16 points. The renaissance of Frederik Andersen was illustrated on a number of occasions where he made big saves, leading to his 1.10 GAA and .955 save percentage. When you consider that Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrei Svechnikov, and Nikolaj Ehlers combined for one assist in four games, Carolina's depth should make them a favorite to emerge from the Eastern Conference.

"Can't understate that," Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Frederik Andersen's goaltending after the game. "Especially when you want to consider how well the other guy was playing there in their end, it was a goalie matchup. They were going save for save, and we needed it. Otherwise, this thing could have gone a lot different. It's probably the best hockey he's played for us."

Brind'Amour is not wrong. Andersen has never won more than eight games in a playoff year, and he's halfway there now. In a season where he lost the starter's role to Brandon Bussi thanks to a 16-14-5 record, a 3.05 GAA, and an .874 save percentage, he has been extraordinarily good in the Carolina crease thus far. He outduelled a remarkable Linus Ullmark who ends his playoffs with a 2.03 GAA and a .932 save percentage - numbers better than Jesper Wallstedt, Jake Oettinger, and Karel Vejmelka who are .500-or-better in these playoffs. Clearly, Andersen was a big part of the Hurricanes' victory.

Carolina will now let the bumps and bruises heal as best they can while they wait for the winner of the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series. Ottawa, meanwhile, will clean out their lockers, meet with the media, and start preparing for next season. There weren't many people who believed that the Senators would win the series, but I don't think anyone expected them to be out seven days after the playoffs started. That's where questions will need to be asked.

Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, and Dylan Cozens are under contract until 2028 for $23.65 million. They had two goals (Cozens) and an assist (Stutzle). Shane Pinto had no points and his salary jumps to $7.5 million next season. Drake Batherson is a free agent at the end of next season and will need a hefty raise if he's to stay in Ottawa. Jordan Spence, Dennis Gilbert, and Nick Jensen are all free agents this year with Tyler Kleven and Artyom Zub being free agents in the summer of 2027. Ottawa will have some tough decisions to make if they felt this group was good enough to push for a Stanley Cup.

Four losses without holding a lead against a team that seems like a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup means they weren't good enough. Not even close. The hard part begins now for the Senators as decisions will be made when it comes to evaluating this group so that, next year, the Senators aren't rocked by the Hurricanes.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

It's An IHL Night!

I had a number of errands I needed to get done tonight, so my ability to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs was interrupted by life. As much as I try to prevent this from happening, life occasionally gets in the way and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Being that I was running around tonight, I put the car stereo to good use by tuning into Game Two of the AHL Calder Cup series between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Manitoba Moose, but I also used Bluetooth to listen to Game One of the ECHL Kelly Cup series between the Indy Fuel and the Fort Wayne Komets! Manitoba was in must-win terrotory after dropping Game One by a 4-1 score in their best-of-three matchup while Fort Wayne and Indy opened their series in Fort Wayne, Indiana this evening. It almost felt like I was back in my university days, listening to the Moose on the radio with frequent visits from their IHL counterparts in Fort Wayne and Milwaukee! So how did these three former IHL teams do tonight?

We'll start in Winnipeg where the Admirals and Moose met. A win by Milwaukee would see them advance to play Grand Rapids while a Manitoba win would push this series to a third and deciding game on Sunday. Ryna Ufko beat Dominic DiVincentiis while shorthanded early in the second period to put Milwaukee ahead, but Parker Ford erased that lead 2:11 later when he beat Matthew Murray to make it 1-1.

A tight-checking game meant things didn't open up in the third period, and it seemed like we were heading for overtime. Oasiz Wiesblatt would be whistled for an elbowing penalty with 1:52 left in the frame, and I'll let Moose broadcaster Daniel Fink handle the rest.
With 43 seconds reamining in regulation time, Moose forward David Gustafsson tipped Brendan Yager's shot past Murray, pushing the Moose to the 2-1 win in Game Two. There was all sorts of rough stuff at the end of this game between the two former IHL foes, but they'll play one more time this season when they meet in Game Three on Sunday afternoon at Canada Life Centre with another former IHL foe in the Grand Rapid Griffins waiting for the winner of this series.

If that wasn't enough IHL references for one article, we'll keep going because the ECHL's Kelly Cup Playoffs began tonight, and the Central Division-winning Fort Wayne Komets, formerly of the IHL, were in action as they hosted the Indy Fuel in Game One of their series. Fort Wyane was playing in their 606th playoff game this evening over their 74-year history, hunting for their 319th win. Indy, meanwhile, wasn't an IHL team and had only two playoff wins in their entire history. Both sides would add another chapter to their histories tonight!

Komets forward Brady Stonehouse would get things started late in the first period when he beat Indy netminder Mitchell Weeks while shorthanded to put the Komets up 1-0. There were handful of chances by both sides as the game moved through the middle frame, but both Weeks and Komets goaltender Nathan Day were putting up walls at both ends of the ice. We wouldn't see the score change until early in the third period off a turnover at center ice, and I'll let legendary Komets announcer Shane Albahrani handle this one.
Matthew Brown would finish off the passing play after the turnover at center ice, and the Komets would take a 2-0 lead on his goal. Austin Magera would add a power-play goal with just over five minutes to play, and Nathan Day stopped 30 Indy shots as the Komets took Game One by a 3-0 score to go up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series!

With their 319th playoff win in the books, the Komets will look to go up 2-0 over Indy tomorrow night before the series shifts to Fishers, Indiana for three games. The ECHL plays all their series as 2-3-2 series to reduce the travel costs for teams, so the Komets will want to sweep their home games in order to go into enemy territory in good standing. The winner of this series will play the winner of the Bloomington Bison-Toledo Walleye series in the next round.

Clearly, it was a good night for two former IHL teams in Manitoba and Fort Wayne as they picked up big wins in their quests for trophies. Milwaukee is still in the hunt despite the loss tonight, and with the Grand Rapids Griffins waiting for the winner and the Chicago Wolves in the other Central Division series there are IHL fingerprints all over the Calder Cup Playoffs. Fort Wayne is the lone former IHL team in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, but they look like a contender there as well.

Listening to these two games on the radio as I drove around the city completing tasks made it feel like 1997 all over again when Manitoba, Milwaukee, and Fort Wayne were juggernauts in the IHL. Some would say those were the "good ol' days" of minor professional hockey!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 709

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight to set up another big show next week while chatting about all the news that came out of the hockey world this week. It looks like we'll have some Survivor: NHL Playoffs eliminations next week unless something dramatic happens in those playoff series, so be ready for the first wave of contestants who will make their home from Survivor Island. Beyond that, our hosts have a pile of hockey news to discuss, so make sure you're ready to go tonight for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will likely spend a lot of time dissecting the words spoken by the man to the left at his season-ending press conference among the topics they discuss. There will be some chatter about cronyism in the KHL, some trademarked names for an AHL team, some European league winners, a quick AIHL update, a sledge hockey update, a Survivor: NHL Playoffs prizing update, a couple of quick hits about UMFM's Pledge-O-Rama that begins tomorrow, and we'll go over Kevin Cheveldayoff's words with a fine-toothed comb. It will be a busy hour of hockey chatter, so snuggle up to your radio or internet-streaming device tonight for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat bad hirings, bad names, big winners, Australian fun, sledge developments, Survivor updates, pledge drives, lots of verbal diarrhea, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: April 23, 2026: Episode 709

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Zero Creativity

From what I've gathered, the logo to the left is the logo used by the city of Hamilton, Ontario on its letterheads and on official documents. I have no way of verifying this as I have no official documents from Hamilton, but it seems reasonable to assume that this logo would be the city's chosen graphical representation. Knowing how important a logo is for any business, one would assume that those businesses seeking a new image would aim for a great logo. With the AHL's Bridgeport Islanders moving into Hamilton next season, they also needed a new team name on which that logo can be based, and it seems the AHL franchise has chosen three potential team names as finalists.

I made the case back on March 31 that they could ressurect the Hamilton Tigers name as the AHL franchise would pay respects to the NHL team that existed from 1920-25, and it would work well with the city's CFL team who are the Tiger-Cats. It's clear that they can't be the Islanders any longer since they're not on an island, but they conceivably could be the Islanders since Bridgeport was mostly on solid land as a city. In any case, I was hoping they'd go with "Tigers".

According to today's trademark filings, they will not use that name.

Hamilton Mustangs

The first trademark that was filed was for "Mustangs" which seems like a complete sellout considering that the fictional Ontario Hockey League team in the 1986 movie Youngblood were the Hamilton Mustangs. With the new Youngblood movie featuring the same team, I assume the AHL franchise owners thought they could cash in with this name somewhat being in the pop culture spectrum. To me, this is pandering to the easiest name. I know it worked for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, but the fictional teams names can remain fiction.

For the record, Hamilton did have an OHL team in 1986 called the Steelhawks who, in 1996, became the Erie Otters after a stop in Niagara Falls. The Mustangs were never a Hamilton-based OHL team.

Hamilton Havoc

Ok, this name has a little more creativity, but this isn't a unique name by any means as the SPHL's Huntsville Havoc should be filing a cease-and-desist when it comes to this name being used. I can see the owners wanting the alliteration of "Hamilton Havoc" where they can emphasize both words, but I think of Huntsville when I hear "Havoc hockey". It'll take some time for that to change in my brain.

Hamilton Hammers

For a city that is commonly referred to as "The Hammer", using "Hammers" as the team name seems a little derivative. The sports headlines will write themselves with this name, so it makes me wonder why they wouldn't have gone for "Mjölnir" as the name while using Norse god Thor as a mascot. Maybe this imagery was too close to that of the ECHL's Adirondack Thunder, but having the mightiest hammer would set them apart from other teams. Marvel may contest my choice of name and its images, but having players skate out to MC Hammer saying "It's Hammer time" would be an interesting twist.

Ok, so those three names aren't great by any means, so there has to be other ones. I mentioned Tigers and I do like Steelhawks, but it was suggested on a Reddit thread that the team should be called "Lakers" in honour of freighters that cross the Great Lakes and use Hamilton as a port city. I'm not sure the logo would be very inspiring based on the linked image, but "Lakers" could be a team name option as well.

A fun name could be "Isotopes" which would ruin the theme night that the Springfield Thunderbirds hold, but McMaster University produces medical-grade isotopes used to treat cancer! As McMaster's website states, the isotopes produced at the Hamilton-based university are used for "treatment for more than 70,000 cancer patients every year" around the world! Could the AHL franchise be the Hamilton Isotopes?

While the three names highlighted above will likely end up as the franchise's new name, Hamilton clearly has alternate options as good or better than the three they chose to trademark. We know they won't be the Islanders which means that the Fisherman logo can be used by the New York Islanders again if they chose, so I'm hoping these three names were trademarked to throw people who were hunting for a scoop off the trail because those are terrible names.

I had high hopes that Hamilton would get a great team name and logo to use, but it doesn't seem like The Hammer will nail this one.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A New Position Created

I try not to be too cynical about hockey's hiring practices, but there are often times where it seems like certain people were hired just because someone wants to reward that person for loyalty. We can talk about the nepotism that exists with guys like Scotty and Stan Bowman working for the Blackhawks and Dick and Chris Patrick managing the Capitals, but there seems to be a lot of times where owners simply create a position out of the blue for a legendary player or loyal player who played for the team. That seemingly happened today over in Russia as the KHL's Shanghai Dragons has new members of their front office staff after some position changes went down.

Shanghai missed the playoffs this season after playing the campaign in St. Petersburg for the vast majority of their home games, so it was expected there would be changes. In fact, Shanghai finished in ninth-place in the Western Conference in the eleven-team conference, but they finished 25 points back of the final playoff spot held by Spartak Moscow. That's how bad Shanghai, Lada and, Sochi were this season!

As a result of this finish, Dragons general manager Igor Varitsky was shown the door by ownership. Despite having Adam Clendening, Kevin LaBanc, Alex Burmistrov, and Austin Wagner on their roster, the Dragons under head coaches Gerard Gallant and Mitch Love finished with a 21-35-12 record for 54 points. Clearly, the owners of the Dragons thought the roster wasn't good enough, so the architect of that roster was dismissed today with Varitsky being fired.

The vacancy lasted entirely until Varitsky cleaned out his office because the Dragons named Evgeny Artyukhin as the new general manager today. Artyukhin spent 199 games in the NHL with Tampa Bay, Anaheim, and Atlanta before returning to Russia and the KHL from 2010-22 where he played for eight different teams. He had been working as a European scout for the Vegas Golden Knights before this management position opened up, and Artyukhin will now return to the city where he played four seasons for SKA St. Petersburg.

If you're wondering what management experience Artyukhin has when it comes to contracts and running a team, the answer is absolutely none. Artyukhin retired in 2022 after splitting the season between Admiral Vladivostok and Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, so it's not like he's been working in front offices learning the hockey management trade or attending management and law school over the last four seasons.

His appointment, however, didn't raise as many eyebrows as the next one did because it seems the Shanghai Dragons are only hiring former SKA St. Petersburg players. There might be a reason for this as well.

According to the news on their website, the Dragons decided to appoint former NHL and KHL sniper Ilya Kovalchuk as President of the Shanghai Dragons! This would be the same Ilya Kovalchuk who officially retired from hockey last season after notable stints with the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, and SKA St. Petersburg. Appointing him as the president of a hockey team that hired a general manager with no experience should mean good things lie ahead for the Shanghai Dragons, right? What could possibly go wrong?

"This is a very exciting challenge for me," Kovalchuk wrote in the press release posted to the Dragons' website today. "I am grateful for the opportunity to become part of the Shanghai Dragons and to help build a competitive team that fans can be proud of."

I know this is the KHL so there won't be any reporters questioning Kovalchuk on how they plan on building this competitive team, but seeing Kovalchuk and Artyukhin hired by the Dragons - who play in St. Petersburg - shouldn't surprise anyone in knowing that oligarch Gennady Timchenko is one of the key people in SKA St. Petersburg's operations. He's currently estimated to be Russia's sixth-richest man.

The Chairman of the KHL's Board of Directors played a key role in Shanghai's move from Mytishchi Arena outside of Moscow to St. Petersburg, so it seems very convenient that two former SKA players with zero management experience were given lofty positions with the Dragons. I can honestly say it wasn't due to their vast hockey knowledge or experiences. I can't see them making Shanghai more competitive next season in any way with their lack of experience.

I don't write much about the KHL because most of the problems they have are self-inflicted, but hiring two guys who have no experience to put together a championship roster for a team that missed the playoffs by 25 points is simply ludicrous. I get that Kovalchuk and Artyukhin are likely pro-Kremlin in their political views which makes them ideal management candidates for Gennady Timchenko based on his political friends, but this egregious cronyism is just ridiculous.

Best of luck to the Shanghai Dragons. They're gonna need it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

HBIC Summer Project Announcement

Every year on HBIC, I try to come up with a project that will incorporate summer into hockey a little more than usual. I've done a series on women who played both baseball and hockey, I cover a lot of hockey history throughout the summer, and I have covered field hockey at multiple Summer Olympiads, but this year's HBIC Summer Project will take me on the road. This project sadly won't involve The Tragically Hip, but it could be a lot of fun if I can make it work.

Throughout Manitoba, there are large statues in a number of communities. People often stop and take photos with these statues as they travel through Manitoba, but there are a vast number of them that should be documented and discussed. That's what I plan on doing this summer - hitting the road and exploring Manitoba on day trips to all these little towns and municipalities with iconic statues!

To make this a little more HBIC in its push, I'll also seek out the arena or local rink where players gather, and I'll document any significant hockey players who have come from those towns. I'm aware that not all of them will have well-known names, but I'll be looking for any and all hockey stories that involve the town and its citizens as well. I want to find these untold stories from places people should know!

Lastly, I'll be giving a local restaurant a bump as well as I will enjoy a meal in these eateries so you get an idea of where to stop if you want to retrace my steps. There are lots of mom-and-pop greasy spoons and hole-in-the-wall diners that deserve a little recognition for laying down roots in these communities, and I'll pay them my respects by dining at these establishments. Expect reviews of the meal and the food joint at the end of every one of these Summer Project articles!

Where did this idea come from, you ask?

Well, if you were around in the 1990s, "Another Roadside Attraction" was a concert series that toured across Canada that featured a ton of great artists and was headlined by The Tragically Hip. In 1997, it was just outside my backyard as the concert landed at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, and my backyard was just across the highway from the horse racing track. The Hip headlined as stated above, but they were joined by Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Los Lobos, Ron Sexsmith, Ashley MacIsaac, and Change of Heart. In short, it was an incredible concert.

If you're wondering, yes, all those linked songs were heard that day.

Back to the idea itself, I have been wanting to travel more in the summer. I love a good road trip, and this seemed like a great idea to get out and explore the province a little more. I may be limited by gas prices based on how things are going, but there's no time like the present to do a little exploring in my "backyard" here in Manitoba. By combining that with hockey and these iconic statues, I should have a lot "to write home about" when documenting my adventures!

I plan on starting this in May, so keep an eye on this blog for these updates. My hope is to have one town or municipality with a statue featured every week throughout the summer with weather and gas prices pending, but I'll do my best to get out to some of these amazing towns and talk about why you should be visiting them during your next Manitoba road trip. Buckle up because this will be fun!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Cannot Generate Emotion

How about that comeback tonight from the Buffalo Sabres? That was a heckuva rally in the third period with three goals in a 4:34 span that moved Buffalo from a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 lead in a game they won 4-3. News stories are already being written about it. Sportswriters are already hammering away at their keyboards... or so we believe. I say that because tonight's victory for Buffalo was fifteen years in the making, meaning that there should be a ton of passionate writers and bloggers talking about how much this victory means to the city of Buffalo, to themselves, and to the team. However, Steven Levy has me wondering how much writing is being done by people when it comes to these stories.

Levy is a longtime tech journalist who writes and publishes pieces for Wired. I find his pieces grounded in common sense and practical wisdom, but with an optimism that humanity and technology can work together. In his April 17 piece titled "AI Drafting My Stories? Over My Dead Body", Levy pulls back the curtain on how finance and tech writers are using AI more and more to generate the basis of their stories that are published. In the article, he writes,

"Last month, my colleague Maxwell Zeff wrote about writers who unapologetically generate at least some of their prose via unbylined AI collaborators. The star of his piece was Alex Heath, a tech reporter who said he routinely has AI write drafts based on his notes, interview transcripts, and emails. That same week, The Wall Street Journal profiled Fortune reporter Nick Lichtenberg, who explained to the paper that he leans heavily on AI to churn out his work. He has written 600 stories since July; on one day this past February, he had seven bylines."

Now you might be saying, "Teebz, these finance and tech reporters can do what they want because sports is different," but is it? Can AI-generated stories capture the passion, the exhilaration, and the emotion seen in Buffalo when the final horn sounded after fifteen years of heartbreak and disappointment? Can the human element be replicated by something that feels no emotions or has bias?

Levy writes, "Those relying on 'AI-assistance' claim that these stories are not replacing the work of stylists, but are put to use only in cases where the reader simply wants to consume information, be it a scoop or description of some development. All people want is the facts."

Facts are all fine and dandy when one is building a foundation for a story, but that is a terrible way to report about how a playoff victory came 5473 days after Buffalo's last playoff game and how much it meant so much to a city and its fanbase. AI cannot accurately convey those feelings because it hasn't lived through that heartbreak.

Give me the writers who have had to follow this team for a decade without playoff hockey. Give me fan accounts of how important this game and win was. Give me players' quotations and perspective on their victory. Give me all the stories that Buffalo has in seeing their team rally for a win when it seemed like Boston was in control.

Levy comes to this conclusion in his article, writing, "... because AI doesn’t live in the actual world, or have actual human experiences, no matter what it writes, or how clever it may be, or how much it takes on the voice of a singular flesh-and-blood writer, it can only play a partial role in human expression" which is absolutely true.

In no way can AI replicate the human emotional experience of being a Sabres fans and knowing how it feels to see this team rally from a 2-0 score to win the game in the third period. Yes, factually, it can talk about stats and numbers of how many times the Sabres have done that this season, but AI isn't sitting in the stands watching the Sabres make core memories for fans who have never witnessed a playoff game in Buffalo. That's where sportswriters play their role.

Let me be clear that I have not seen a Buffalo Sabres story about tonight's game that seems like it was generated by artificial intelligence. I chose that game as the example because of Buffalo's situation when it came to their fans' clear excitement over seeing a playoff game for the first time in fifteen years. Combine that with their incredible comeback and victory, and this game had all the right emotional markers that would make it impossible for AI to come close to describing the game in comparison to some great Buffalo reporters like Lance Lysowski and Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News.

Maybe it's best to end this examination of AI-generated stories with the quotation with which Levy began his article. It reads, "Sportswriting legend Red Smith once said that writing a column is easy: 'All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.'" Hockey is a sport played by men and women who are falliable, quotable, emotional, and logical, and we need those perspectives to keep the game real. Your words bring the game to life every time you write.

If you're a sports reporter, the blood, sweat, and tears matter to the people who are reading your work. Don't give in to the easy solution of letting AI generate your content. As Steven Levy summed up nicely in the last paragraph of his article, "... we will all be impoverished by the loss of the human voice. Not to mention the soul."

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Luck Favours The Prepared

By now, everyone has heard the comments made by various Winnipeg Jets as they cleaned out their lockers, and it seemed like there general consensus that the Jets have to get younger and faster. Whether that happens will be seen in the future, but there was a good display of how old and slow plays against younger and faster tonight as the Minnesota Wild opened their series against the Dallas Stars by punching them square in the mouth via their 6-1 win. This game was over before the halfway point with Minnesota building a 4-0 lead, but what surprised me was how the Wild made the Stars look much slower on the ice comparatively.

In short, Dallas could be in real trouble in this series.

Of course, it's just one game and this series isn't anywhere close to being over, but the Minnesota Wild looked like they had been shot of a cannon comparably to Dallas. It's said that teams have to be good to lucky, and we saw Minnesota get a couple of goals in that fashion that had the Stars reeling. If the hockey gods were smiling on Minnesota today, it's likely because they won a ton of puck battles, they were first to a lot of loose pucks, and they kept Dallas on their heels with their forecheck and speed. This wasn't lost on the Stars.

"First 30 minutes, we didn't win enough battles," Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen told Taylor Baird of NHL.com. "They were just that little bit stronger in the battles and that's why they were able to make us defend more than we want to. Just got to be stronger."

Dallas head coach Glen Gulutzan also made mention of losing battles.

"When you're not winning anything and you're not winning your races, you're not winning your 50-50s, you put yourself at risk for what happened," Gulutzan explained to the gathered reporters in the postgame press conference. "Deflections, a shot from the half-wall that goes off a guy and goes in, one from behind the net. Because you're in vulnerable spots because you're not winning battles. Like I said, to a man I think we can all be better in that area."

Stars defenceman Miro Heiskanen tried to sum up what needs to happen in Game Two, saying, "Have to play a little harder, close the gaps a little quicker, and not give them that much time. I think those are the keys. It's a long series."

On the other side, Minnesota Wild head coach Jon Hynes spoke of his team's preparation as a key leading into this first playoff game.

"We prepped for a couple days coming into this one," Hynes said of his team after their Game One win. "Now, we will gather information from this game and continue to move forward. For me, it’s game to game and day to day. We want to continue to get better. We won and they lost. It's not so much being satisfied where you're at or that's what it is. We need to continue to find ways to get better."

If there are things that don't need to be improved in any major way, Minnesota's transition defence was on display for sixty minutes as they continually caused Dallas headaches. When Dallas came down the ice, there was zero room to manoeuver, resulting in turnovers and Dallas having to retreat. Speed, positioning, and understanding the assignment gave Dallas fits in getting down the ice today.

Minnesota moved the puck very well in all three zones, and they rarely struggled to find space on the ice. Dallas missed assignments, Dallas missed both stick- and bodychecks, and Dallas chased the puck far too often. How does Joel Eriksson Ek stand so open on the power-play in the middle of the slot twice, resulting in two goals? How does Kirill Kaprizov not get pasted into the boards every time he touches the puck? Dallas has to mind the details to win in this series!

Dallas will get set for Monday night's Game Two by focusing on the details that they clearly ignored today. I expect the Stars to finish checks, drive the Minnesota net more, and pay attention to defensive assignments. On the flip side, though, Minnesota will take today's game as the first step they need to get to the second round, continue to play at a high level, and focus on making Dallas's trip to St. Paul less fun by taking both games in Dallas. Game Two should be intense!

Like the St. Louis-Winnipeg series last year, whoever wins this series may come out worse for wear based on the bumps and bruises they'll sport. Minnesota is 25% of the way there with their big win tonight, but they still need three more against a team that has played in the Western Conference Final in the last two seasons. Expect a tougher Dallas team to clock-in on Monday for Game Two of this series!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!